New companies: Activision, Edu-Ware, Infocom, Strategic Simulations, Capcom
The US market for arcade games earns a revenue of $1.5 billion (equivalent to $4.95 billion in 2017).
Arcade
October, Namco releases early color game Galaxian.
August, Atari releases Lunar Lander.
November, Atari releases Asteroids, which becomes Atari's second best selling game of all time and displaces Space Invaders as the most popular game in the US.
November, Vectorbeam releases Tail Gunner, a space shooter with a first-person perspective.
December, Nintendo releases Radar Scope, featuring a pseudo-3D, third-person perspective.
Cinematronics releases Warrior.
Sega releases Monaco GP, featuring full-color and one of their last discrete logic (no CPU) hardware designs.
Computer
August, Automated Simulations releases Temple of Apshai, one of the first graphical role-playing games for home computers. It remains the best-selling computer RPG through to 1982.
October, subLOGIC releases Flight Simulator for the Apple II.
Richard Garriott creates Akalabeth, a computer role-playing game for the Apple IIe. It launches Garriott's career and is a precursor to his highly successful Ultima series.
Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw create what is commonly recognized as the first playable MUD.
Console
December, Atari Adventure for the Atari 2600. It is recognized as the first visual adventure game, or action-adventure, and has one of the first known Easter eggs in a video game.
Computer
June, Texas Instruments releases the TI-99/4, the first home computer with a 16-bit processor.
September, NEC releases the PC-8001, the first in the PC-8000 Series of home computers.
Console
Mattel test markets the Intellivision console in Fresno, California. It is released throughout the United States in 1980.
Handheld
November, Milton Bradley Company releases the first handheld game console, the Microvision.
Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi begins development on the Game & Watch, released as a line of handheld electronic games in 1980.
1979 in video gaming Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA